A passenger conveyor has held an important position as indispensable transportation equipment inside a building and its use has been widespread. The construction of a typical passenger conveyor includes a main body frame supported by the framework of the building, balustrades supported by the main body frame, handrails, and passenger platforms arranged and circulated endlessly in synchronism with the handrails.
One conventional balustrade includes glass panels supported by the main body frame, a handrail frame unit supported by the glass panel and a guide secured to the handrail frame unit. The handrail is slidably engaged with the guide. Location of the handrail frame unit below the handrail and, thus, in the passenger's view is undesirable aesthetically. Further, handrail drag in the newel end of the passenger conveyor is a persistent problem which typically was addressed with a large roller in solid balustrades and small roller clusters in glass balustrades. The smaller roller clusters in these glass balustrade designs rotate relatively fast and wear quickly. Roller designs create undesirable noise. In addition, these designs still have handrail drag in the newel end.
Both the large rollers in solid balustrades and the small roller clusters in glass balustrades have the problem that powder is produced by abrasion of the handrail and accumulates on the handrail frame. As a result, the powder often is transferred to the passengers' hands and subsequently their clothing.
Current trends are to make the handrails look as if they are floating in space, i.e., a suspended look. The suspended look ideally shows only the handrail "floating" on the glass without the conventional handrail frame unit located in sight below the handrail. The newer, slim, transparent balustrades have little room for rollers and/or were limited to slides which have significant problems with handrail life, handrail drive slippage, and handrail wear.
The instant invention provides a newel air slide with a series of pockets which are individually supplied with air via sized orifices from a common air supply. The air supplied to the pockets generates pressure to "float" the handrail off of the newel slide to reduce the friction or drag to a minimal amount. As a result, the powder produced by abrasion of the handrail is reduced. Noise is considerably eliminated. Unsightly frame unit mass is reduced, and the desired "floating" look of the handrail is maintained.